A Kenyan police officer from Koromotangi village in Kakamega County has reportedly committed suicide over an alleged salary delay.
Abel Kemboi was found dead on Wednesday, January 5, after complaining to friends and relatives that his December salary had been delayed.
Before committing suicide, Kemboi reportedly said he would take up the salary issue with his bosses at Kakamega Police Station and even requested his cousin identified as Zacheaus Kalama to accompany him.
When Kalama woke up the following morning and headed to Kemboi’s home, he found the door locked from inside. Upon getting no response, he broke into the house and saw that Kemboi had hanged himself. He noted that his late cousin had show signs of being depressed earlier.
Kalama said;
“We had agreed to go to the station to inquire the cause of the salary delay from his bosses but it was shocking that he took his own life even before we achieved our mission.
“He had hanged himself and I did not believe what I saw.”
The deceased’s immediate boss and Kakamega Central OCPD David Kabena also confirmed that he was always depressed.
Kabena said that they had already launched investigations to ascertain the exact cause of his death. In addition, he urged officers with any underlying mental issues to seek expert attention.
He said;
“It is important for those who realise that they are stressed to reach out and share what they are going through.”
Kemboi’s body was taken to Kakamega Teaching and Referral Hospital morgue awaiting postmortem.
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has expressed disappointment over the stance of President Muhammadu Buhari on state police.
President Buhari had in an interview on Channels Television on Wednesday, monitored by Naija News, said state police is not an option in solving the security challenges in the country.
“State police is not an option. Find out the relationship between local governments and the governors. Are the third tier of government getting what they are supposed to get constitutionally,” he had said.
Reacting to the comment, PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, said the president’s rejection of the state police shows that his government is not interested in solving the insecurity in the nation.
Ayu stated that the call for state police was made by Nigerians, urging the president to do the will of the people he swore an oath to serve.
In a statement released on Wednesday night, the PDP chairman asserted that Nigerians will not accept his rejection of state police.
He said: “Watching President Muhammadu Buhari this evening on Channels TV during an interview session was a gratuitous waste of time because there was nothing new coming from the President.
“As has been said by many before now, to expect anything new from our President would be a misplaced and unfortunate expectation. From the economy to insecurity, killing of innocent farmers by terrorists (which some erroneous term farmer/herder clashes) and other sundry issues, President Buhari honoured his calling as a President who has nothing new to offer.
“In President Buhari’s view, State Police is not an option. Yet, it appears the continued killings in some localities of Nigeria, particularly in the North, and more specifically in his home state of Katsina, may not matter, hence, the need to have a security system that feeds on local intelligence and nuances, which the federal police cannot adequately provide, is not an option to our President.
“To him, it appears that continuing the same process while expecting a different output and outcome is the best way to go. We ask, is he comfortable with the killings in the land while the status quo persists?”
Viewers who watched President Muhammadu Buhari’s interview on Wednesday must have been bemused after the president gave two contradictory responses about his preferred candidate for 2023 presidential election.
Buhari spoke about the economy, insecurity, his reservations about the recently signed 2022 budget and his refusal to give assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, amongst others, during the interview aired by Channels TV.
But when asked about who he prefers to succeed him in 2023, the president said he had no favourite candidate and isn’t concerned about who emerges his successor at the polls.
“I am not interested in who becomes the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) as I am open to the emergence of anyone. Let him come, whoever it is.
“The only important thing (is) I made sure that on record, nobody should ask me to come and give any evidence in any court. Otherwise, whoever it is, he will be in trouble. Because all the important things are on record. I made sure about that. Important issues are all on record.”
In the same breath, the president admitted having a favourite candidate but said he prefers to “keep it (a) secret”.
“I wouldn’t (reveal my preferred candidate) because the person could be eliminated if I mention it. I better keep it secret,” said Buhari.
Speaking further on why he declined assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, the president said it was undemocratic to impose direct primaries as the only option for political parties to elect candidates for elections.
““We must not insist that it has to be direct; it should be consensus and indirect,” Buhari had said, adding that he would sign the bill if indirect primaries and consensus candidates were added as options.
Scores of students of the University of Ibadan have fled their private hostels located at Agbowo area and other adjoining streets due to the invasion of the hostels by armed robbers.
Armed hoodlums who were said to have distributed themselves into groups of about 12 each reportedly invaded the hostels which were occupied mainly by students of the premier university in the country.
An undergraduate identified as vIctor was reportedly shot and one of the security guards in the area was also said to have been shot and injured.
Some UI students told THE WHISTLER that they would not sleep at their hostels for at least one week because of the trauma of the attack.
Armed hoodlums had invaded the hostels at around 1:50am and carted away assorted phones and iPads ,laptop computers and other handy devices.
The shot student was said to have been taken to the University of Ibadan Health Centre, popularly known as Jaja, for treatment.
A student living in one of the hostels said the hoodlums stole phones and collected password to unlock them.
The student who spoke on condition of anonimity said, “The armed robbers arrived our area around 2am. A student, Victor was shot in his left leg. He was taken to UI Health Centre. The hoodlums also collected N250,000 and POS machine from one of our neighbours.
“Many students were injured, they collected money from them while their phones were stolen. It was like a film last night. Police were invited but the robbers had left before they arrived.”
In other hostels located at Barika and Agricola streets, many phones were also carted away while three occupants of one of the hostels were injured by the hoodlums who also shot repeatedly to force occupants to cooperate with them.
Another student in the area told our correspondent that the security guard at the hostel where he resides was thoroughly beaten with clubs.
He said, ” After this, they proceeded to start breaking doors to the rooms. They shot in the air to tell us that they came fully armed. They were about 12 and I saw three of them with guns.
” Some policemen came after the armed robbers had left and picked the expended bullets fired by the armed robbers.”
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Adewale Osifeso, could not be reached. He did not pick his calls.
The much anticipated 2022 Grammy Awards has been postponed due to the recent surge in the spread of the new variant of COVID-19 disease across the cities.
The music awards gala night had been scheduled for January 31, however, the recent widespread of the Omicron variant across United States cities have called for a reschedule.
The current overall cases of Coronavirus in the United States is about sixty million while deaths recorded so far is over eight hundred and thirty thousand.
A statement released on Wednesday evening by the organizers of the Grammy Awards said: “Holding the show on January 31 simply contains too many risks.”
The Recording Academy, however, said it would announce a rescheduled date as soon as possible.
“The health and safety of those in our music community, the live audience, and the hundreds of people who work tirelessly to produce our show remain our top priority,” the statement added.
Record Academy had in November 2021 confirmed the names of nominees for the 2022 Grammy Awards which was earlier scheduled to hold in Los Angeles on Monday, January 31, Naija News recalls.
Nigerian superstars, Wizkid and Burna Boy got nominated in different categories for the 2022 Grammys.
Nigerian singer, Ayo Balogun, better known as Wizkid got nominated in two categories for the 2022 Grammy Awards.
Wizkid’s fourth album, ‘Made in Lagos’ which was released in 2020 has continued to dominate music charts in the country and abroad. Also, his hit song, Essence has been on the lips of music lovers as it also made its way to the playlist of former US President Barack Obama.
In the list of nominees released by the organizers, Wizkid’s ‘Made in Lagos’ album was nominated in the Best Global Music Award category, while Essence featuring Tems makes the list of nominees for the Best Global Music Performance category.
Wizkid would be hoping to clinch the award and follow the footstep of popular Nigerian singer, Burna Boy who won the award for Best Global Music Album Award this year, Naija News reports.
Recall that Wizkid had won an award for his part in the video for Beyonce’s Brown-Skinned girl at the 2021 ceremony.
Another proud Nigerian singer, Damini Ogulu popularly known as Burna Boy got a nomination for the 2022 Grammys.
Burna Boy, a two-time nominee and winner was nominated alongside, Wizkid, Femi Kuti, and, Made Kuti.
The federal government has released the official gazette categorizing bandits as terrorists.
A federal high court sitting in Abuja had on November 26 proscribed Yan Bindiga and Yan Ta’adda bandit groups and subsequently declared their activities as acts of terrorism.
THE WHISTLER reported that Justice Taiwo Taiwo, presiding judge, had granted the order following an exparte motion filed by the Director, Public prosecution (DPP), Federal Ministry of Justice, Mohammed Abubakar.
According to the motion, “banditry, incessant kidnappings for ransom, kidnapping for marriage, mass abductions of school children and other citizens, cattle rustling, enslavement, imprisonment, severe deprivation of physical liberty, torture, rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, other forms of sexual violence, attacks and killings in communities and commuters and wanton destruction of lives and properties in Nigeria, particularly in the Northwest and Northcentral states in Nigeria are being carried out by Yan Bindiga and Yan Ta’adda groups and other groups associated with or engaged in the same or similar activities as Yan Bindiga and Yan Ta’adda groups in Nigeria.”
On Wednesday, the FMOJ announced that the court proscription order is now cited as the Terrorism (Prevention) Proscription Short Order Notice, 2021.
“Consequently the general public is hereby warned that any person or group of persons participating in any manner whatsoever in any form of the activities involving or concerning the prosecution of the collective intentions or otherwise of the groups referred to in paragraph 1 of this Notice will be violating the provisions of the Terrorism (Prevent ion) Act, 2011 and liable to prosecution,” the document stated.
Rivers State Police Command has disclosed that the organisers of the music concert held in Buguma, Asari-Toru Local Government Area, Rivers State, which was disrupted when a popular Nigerian artist, Teniola Akpata, popularly known as Teni, was performing last week did not apply for security prior to the event.
The command denied reports that its operatives fired gunshots that scared the A-list musician and ended her performance abruptly.
Recall THE WHISTLER had reported that Teni, who was the star artist of the concert, was already on stage thrilling fans before a melee suddenly ensued from amongst the crowd.
The dispute which degenerated into a fight was later discovered to be a misunderstanding between two youths.
However, the organisers managed to whisk off Teni to safety.
Reacting to reports on the alleged attack, the spokesperson of the state police command, Grace Iringe-Koko, while speaking to newsmen in Port Harcourt, insisted that no police officer fired a gunshot during the event.
According to Iringe-Koko, the organizers of a show of such magnitude ought to have applied to the Commissioner of Police for security, but said the command never received any application or request.
In her words: “No police officer from Rivers State Police Command fired any gunshot that day. Normally if they have such an event, they are supposed to write an application to the Commissioner of Police.
“Then the Commissioner of Police will direct the Area Commander covering that Degema axis, while the Degema Area Commander will also assign it to the Divisional Police Officer over there at Buguma that will cover that event.
“But there was no application of such. The DPO did not have any knowledge of it. Perhaps the DPO might know they have an event and say maybe his men should just stroll around on patrol. But there was no application of such to cover that event,” she explained.
Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed and CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National planning, Zainab Ahmed, has revealed that Nigeria’s inflation rate will remain at double digit in 2022.
Zainab disclosed the development on Wednesday at the Public Presentation and Breakdown of the Highlights of the 2022 Appropriation Act in Abuja.
The minister said, “Inflation, well, it will continue at double digit. Our projection is that it will continue to decline throughout 2022.”
She further admitted that the Federal Government failed to meet its target of moderating inflation to 11.95 per cent by the end of 2021.
According to Ahmed, the inflation rate by November was at 15.4 per cent which was above its projections.
The three highest inflation rates recorded last year were: 18.17 per cent in April, 17.93 per cent in May and 17.75 per cent in July.
But the rates moderated to 15.99 per cent and 15.4 per cent in October and November respectively.
The Godwin Emefiele-led Central Bank of Nigeria has been battling to reduce the inflation rate to between six to nine per cent.
Inflation is projected to moderate to 14.91 per cent by February 2022, Emefiele had said at an event in 2021.
The apex bank governor had projected that he would reduce Nigeria’s inflation to a single digit by 2024.
The last time the economy witnessed a single digit inflation was in 2015 when it was 9.5 per cent.
Meanwhile the World Bank had said in its November edition of the Nigeria Development Update that the country’s inflation will be among the highest in the world in 2022.
The World Bank said, “In 2022, Nigeria is expected to have one of the highest inflation rates in the world and the seventh highest in Sub-Saharan Africa.”
The Federal Government has imposed a N10 per liter excise duty tax on all non-alcoholic, carbonated and sweetened beverages.
The excise duty tax is one of the amendments made in the Finance Act 2022 which was signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on December 31 last year.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this at the public presentation of the 2022 budget.
She said the purpose of the additional tax is to discourage the consumption of excessive sugar by Nigerians which contributes to diabetes and obesity.
The Finance Minister said the new measure is in line with the 2022 budget priorities which enables the government to introduce new sugar tax to raise revenue for health-related and other critical expenditures.
About four million Nigerians suffer from diabetes linked to excess sugar consumption.
Nigeria ranks the 4th highest soft drink consuming country globally, with over 40 million litres sold yearly.
The apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has cautioned the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) stating that the move to ban the singing of the Nigerian National Anthem and the consumption of northern cows in the south-east region might be counter-productive.
A statement on Wednesday by the Ohanaeze Secretary-General, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro submitted that the move by IPOB might negatively affect efforts to secure the release of Biafra agitator who is also the group’s leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
Apart from that, Ohanaeze in its statement observed that the step taken by IPOB may put an end to the moves to actualize a 2023 Igbo presidency and also mislead the younger ones.
It also cautioned that the southeast region may be opened to military raids accompanied by fighter jets capable of inflicting hardships on the people of the southeast zone.
The Igbo socio-cultural body made its views known in reaction to the declaration by the proscribed IPOB banning cows reared by Fulani herdsmen for any social event in the Southeast as from April 2022.
The declaration by its Head of Directorate Mazi Chika Edoziem through its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful also banned the recitation of the National Anthem in schools in the region, Naija News reports.
But Ohanaeze has now cautioned IPOB against plunging the southeast region into regrettable action that will pitch the region against the federal government of Nigeria and the other parts of the country.
Ohanaeze noted that the IPOB order “will affect the ongoing diplomatic efforts to free Nnamdi Kanu. Instead, the FG might unleash bitterness on the South-East.
“This order is also nonetheless destructive to the campaign for the Igbo presidency in 2023 and will give birth to avoidable military raids on all public schools in Southeastern Nigeria, with the ongoing ‘Operation Golden Dawn’.”
The Ohanaeze scribe added that “reciting of the Biafra anthem in public schools remains prohibited, forbidden and proscribed, as the South-East is still an integral part of Nigeria.
“We cannot afford to mislead and misinform our pupils into trending into paths that will attract grave consequences for Ndigbo.
“Ndigbo should flout such despicable orders of absurdity, as it will be the rationale for future deployment of military Tucano fighter jets to South-eastern Nigeria.”
Instead, Isiguzoro urged IPOB to “join Ohanaeze in the promotion of Igbo language, cultural heritage, and values in all South-East public schools. This is the best way to get our youngsters to remain committed and imbibe the cultural values and heritage of Ndigbo.”
He added that killer herdsmen disguised as normal cattlemen were responsible for the killings and general insecurity in the southeast.
“The recent security challenges in South-eastern Nigeria are created by killer herdsmen masquerading as cattlemen to perpetrate heinous onslaught against our local communities.
“The enforcement of the ban on consumption of Fulani cattle should be a protest against unhealthy and disease-infested cows being sold to Ndigbo,” he noted.
